


The Man on the Roof

by ghostlime



Series: The Nebulae Timeline | Minecraft AU [2]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: (i think), Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Character Study, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Sleepy Bois Inc, Phil Watson-centric (Video Blogging RPF), The End (Minecraft), Winged Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29978613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlime/pseuds/ghostlime
Summary: It was quiet, on the roof. Phil could hear the stars.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, i do imply that phil is in love with the stars but let's gloss over that
Series: The Nebulae Timeline | Minecraft AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129664
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	The Man on the Roof

**Author's Note:**

> although this is part of an au it makes sense on its own so you don’t have to read the other parts don’t worry
> 
> also if there's mistakes it's because i wrote and edited this exclusively at 1am
> 
> usual disclaimer: this isn't rpf! don't write about real people because that is weird and invasive (i just want to write my funny minecraft fanfiction in peace okay)

Phil was alone. The stars, ever changing, stared unblinkingly at the silhouette of a man who lost everything time and time again. Small dots of light scattered around him like dust from shattered glass. It seemed fitting, Phil mused, for what else could be so perfect for him but bright slivers of an eternally incomplete puzzle? He was doomed to outlast everything, after all. One day, as fast as it arrived, the world would fall again - leaving nothing but a grieving soul and some specks of dust in its wake. There were others like him, but what is longing to the gods? A fleeting moment of what could have been; symbols that no longer hold meaning yet are burned into their minds. He could converse with ancient beings, but what is regret to those who have no memories to base it upon? An unforgiving persistence of thought; understanding that will never be comprehended by whomever it plagues.

“The universe is full of temporary creatures,” he spoke to the stars above him. “But they are like water, in that sense. Forever running, changing, fitting how and where they need to.”

He paused. “I am not one for mercy, but- a brief reprieve, perhaps? This small world has barely remembered how to thrive. Let them breathe a little.”

The silence, as always, was deafening. Philza Minecraft, Angel of Death and harbinger of the end, sighed. 

So Phil was alone. But, in that moment, he was content with it.

\----

It was always going to catch him off-guard whenever another person weaved their way into his existence, Phil decided. No matter how prepared he was.

The thought was not an uncommon one - it had become almost commonplace amongst the turmoil of other voices and occasional introspection. Its first appearance had been after Wilbur dragged Tommy to Phil’s private lands and announced that the child he had found digging through his leftovers was now his brother. This, however, did not mean that he welcomed it. How could he? The knowledge that these people would soon leave was much too bitter-tasting for the sweet tooth Phil was known to have.

He took to frequenting the roof to organise his thoughts. Only Phil could get there, you see. It was out of sight from the ground, and even if you knew where it was, you would have to fly to reach it (and, to his thanks, none of his family had that particular ability). 

When did he start thinking of them as his family, anyway? Phil had seen such things grow and fall apart from a distance, but what was he to do when he was the head of one? Techno had compared him to the eye of a storm once, he thinks. “We’re just gonna keep movin’ around you, y’know. You’re the one that keeps us from fallin’ apart.” Phil had laughed at the time, because it had been a passing comment and Techno had been grinning when he said it, but as he stared into the dark brightness of the sky he appreciated it more - of course Philza was the eye of their storm. In his momentary quietude, he had forgotten that he was the eye of the world’s, too.

\----

He thought that he would like to forget completely sometimes. Alas, such was the curse of the endless. Damned to remembrance. Yet it was the opposite for the timeless of them - fated to forget it all, eventually, except their presence and its impact. Phil liked to chuckle at the irony when he was alone. What was the use of either of them? Surviving without end and prevailing without time? What a cruel punchline to a less-than funny joke. He had pondered upon his own demise many times, but only during periods of utter deprecation would he let the idea float for a little while longer.

(After a while, Phil’s family learnt to ground him. They, after all, were the ones that showed him kindness first. The Angel of Death might have been powerful, but he was not all-knowing, and he found content in the ephemeral moments that would occur whenever one of them took the time to teach him about a fact or story they had uncovered that day.

“A small gift for a big man!” had been the only statement spoken by three children of a similar age for a while. It became a common happenstance, he discovered, whenever he was distant - they would gather trinkets together and place them in his room like a bird hoarding for its nest. Phil wouldn’t go up to the roof those times.)

\----

Phil felt at peace, on the roof. Although the stars had long changed beyond the maps he kept, there was comfort in knowing that they would always call down to him, regardless of whether he could see them or not. The sky would keep swirling and Phil would persevere along with it. Everything else could be temporary as long as he had his stars. Still-

“Thousands of years, and it is only now you are kind?”

The stars did not often reply to Phil.

“You have seen everything, been everywhere. Why choose to be kind now, when they so precariously balance upon the spiderweb that this timeline is?”

He did not mind.

“You are many things, Angel. Kind has never been one of them.”

Phil liked the stars. They were good listeners, most of the time.

A pause, before- “They will not last forever, you know.” The stars ticked gently as they spoke.

Phil conceded. “They are proof that I can live. I have always survived. As it turns out, there is a difference. The memories I have, of void and ice, are nothing compared to the glow of the new ones they have carved.” Far below him, distant figures wavered and danced in the fading light of the stars he so dearly loved. “Solitude is a game, my luminary, and it is one that I cannot recall the rules for.”

“What will the mortals do when they realise Death is playing favourites, Angel,” was the reply. “They have killed gods before - what will stop them this time?”

The sun rose over the horizon. The stars disappeared.

Phil let the words of an entity more ancient and familiar to him than magic was to humans hover with the shards of light around him. He spoke to himself.

“I am no god. I am more than that celestial soot staining the ether - I am a monster of earth and stone.”

Their stubborn hunters, their assiduous resolves, they could never match the man who watched the world end at his own hands and bore wings that could quell the pull of the void. Philza Minecraft, Angel of Death and harbinger of the end. The one whom the gods feared.

The man on the roof, watching the sun rise on his family.

**Author's Note:**

> did i imply that mumza is the stars? ,,,maybe,,,,,
> 
> i am dedicating this to my friend for putting up with me every time i spam them at 1am with cool ideas and updates on my writing <3 nyx my beloved
> 
> if you enjoyed a small comment n kudos would be greatly appreciated as well as suggestions for what to write next :D here is my tumblr for those who are willing to yell at me in asks https://ghostlime.tumblr.com/


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